Garment-supporter.



No. 680,379. Patented Aug. l3, IBM. 0. mam-1v.

GARMENT SUPPORTER.

(Applioation filed June 8, 1900.)

(No Model.)

UNITED STATES PATENT FFICE.

CHRISTINA J. HIGLEY, on NEW YORK, N. Y.

GARMENT-SUPPORTER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 680,379, dated August 13, 1901.

Application filed June 8, 1900. Serial No. 19,608. (No model.)

of New York, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Garment-S upporters; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to improvements in garment supporteraand particularlyin stocking-supportersyand it consists in the novel construction of the device.

The object of my invention is to overcome the tendency of that type of former stockingsupporters consisting of a pad adapted to be located over the abdomen and provided with tapes, which may be attached to the stockings, to cause protrusion of the abdomen at the sides, so producing a tendency to hernia. This object is attained in the garment-supporter herein described, and illustrated in the drawings which accompany and form a part of this application, in which- Figure 1 is a front view of a female figure with my improved garment-supporter thereon, and Fig. 2 is a view showing the arrangement of abdominal muscles.

Stocking-supporters of the type above mentioned now in use and consisting of a pad provided with stocking-supporting tapes produce pressure against the strong and thick sheath of the rectus-muscle. This portion of the abdomen is relativelyfirm and rigid, and pressure against it tends to produce bulging at the sides of the abdomen and in the vicinity of the external abdominal rings, at which points the abdomen is weakest and at which points hernia takes place, if at all. The pressure upon the rectus-muscle and the consequent bulging in the neighborhood of the external abdominal rings necessarily increases any tendency to hernia which may exist. Such tendency I seek to avoid by the use of a pad preferably formed of elastic material and which may be suspended in an elastic manner and the sides of which preferably converge downwardly and in substantially the direction of the fibers of the external oblique muscles of the abdomen.

In Fig. 1, A is such a pad. B is a waist-belt, and C O O are tapes by which the pad is suppended from the belt. D D are stockingsupporting tapes of the ordinary type, having bifurcated ends provided with clasps by which such ends may be connected to stock lngs.

Preferably the pad A is composed of flexible material, such as some woven flexible fabric, the edges being hemmed or otherwise reinforced to make them stifi and less yielding than the central portion. The suspension-tapes C may also be and preferably are elastic, and the tapes D may also be elastic, if preferred. The shape of the pad and the location of the outer suspension-tapes C and the stocking-supporting tapes D in relation thereto are such that when the stocking-supporter is in use the lines of draft from the stockings to the belt (such lines being represented by the dotted lines E) are along or close to the outer edges of the pad and in substantially the direction of the external oblique muscles. Substantially no pressure is exerted upon the central portion of the abdomen, therefore, by the pad A, the greater portion of the pressure being exerted along the outer edges of the pad, such pressure tending not only to press back the abdomen as a whole, which is the particular advantage of this type of stocking-supporter, but to resist rather than to cause protrusion of the abdomen at such points, thereby avoiding the objectionable action of former stockingsupporters of this type, as above mentioned.

Fig. 2 is a diagram showing the relative location of some of the principal abdominal muscles. F indicates one of the internal oblique muscles, G one of the external oblique muscles, and H the rectus-muscle, which is formed by interlacing fibers of the internal and external oblique muscles and of the transverse muscles beneath. The rectus-muscle is strong and has a strong and thick sheath. As a result the central portion of the abdomen is far stronger than the side portions. It is against the central portion of the abdomen that pressure is exerted by former stockingsupporters of the type above mentioned,which are provided with a pad to be secured in front of the abdomen. Pressure against the central portion of the abdomentends to produce bulging at the sides, and particularly in the neighborhood of the crest of the ilium and of the inguinal canal, at which points the abdomen is especially weak. Bulging of the abdomen at these points tends to produce hernia or at least facilitates its production.

In the use of stocking-supporters of this class while the wearer is seated the stockingsupporting tapes are relaxed and the stockings tend to work downward because of the tension in their fibers. When the wearer again assumes a standing position, considerable strain is brought to bear upon the stocking-supporter by reason of the fact that the stockings have worked downward,and as such stocking-supporters have been constructed in the past the pad then exerts a considerable pressure upon the abdomen, which is disagreeable and which is or tends to be harmful. Such pressure is exerted very many times a .day. My improved stocking-supporter herein described exerts no such pressure upon the central portion of the abdomen, the pressure that is exerted being distributed mainly in the vicinity of the edges of the pad and in the regions where the abdomen most requires support.

Because the pad acts at the sides rather than in the center, because of its yielding nature, and because of its elastic connection by the use of elastic tapes 0 to the supportingbelt B the pad is less prone to work out of place when in use than are the pads of former garment supporters of this type and greater freedom of movement is permitted the wearer.

Having thus completely described my invention, whatI claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a garment-supporter, the combination, with a flexible abdominal pad, the sides of which converge downwardly, and which is provided with an elastic suspension device whereby it may be secured to the wearer, of stockingsupporting tapes secured to the lower portion of said pad.

2. In a garment-supporter, the combination,with an abdominal pad, the sides of which converge downwardly, and which is formed of flexible and elastic material,and is provided with an elastic suspension device whereby it may be secured to the wearer, of stockingsupporting tapes secured to the lower portion of said pad.

3. In a garment-supporter, the combination, with an abdominal pad formed of fiexi ble material, of a waist-belt for supporting said pad, elastic material connecting said pad and waist-belt, and stocking-sup portin g tapes secured to the lower portion of said pad.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

CHRISTINA J. HIGLEY. \Vitnesses:

HARRY M. MARBLE,

RITA BRADT. 

